Means for use in loading and unloading container cars



June 8, 1937.

c.- WOODRUFF MEANS FOR USE IN LOADING AND UNLOADING CONTAINER CARSOriginal Filed May 27, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 8, 1937. c w ob2,083,178

MEANS FOR USE IN LOADING AND UNLOADING CONTAINER CARS Original Filed May27, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FOR USE INLOADING AND UN- LOADING CONTAINER CARS Graham 0. Woodruff, Bronxville,N. Y., assignor to The L. C. L. Corporation, a corporation of DelawareOriginal application May 27, 1935, Serial No. 23,798. Divided and thisapplication April 7, 1936, Serial No. 73,163

1 Claim. (CI. 14-72) The present application is a division of mycompartments 3 each adapted to receive a conprior application, SerialNo. 23,798, filed May 2'7, tainer 4 of a type having supporting legs 5to 35- rest upon and support it above the floor of its This inventionrelates to means for use in receiving compartment, each compartmentbeing 5 loading and unloading container cars, and parprovided at itsopposite sides with drop doors 5 ticularly in the transfer of leg-typecontainers 6 hinged at their lower edges and adapted toby means of poweror manually operated liftswing outwardly and downwardly to a verticaltype trucks between a loading platform and a position or to asubstantially horizontal position, container car standing on a trackalongside the in which latter position the doors may be utilO same andin the transfer of containers between lized toserve as gang planks tobridge the space 10 cars on adjacent parallel tracks, as well as thebetween the container compartment and a loadtransfer of containersbetween a container car ing platform. The bulkheads are provided at theand a loading platform across an intervening car, sides of the car withcombined side posts and and vice versa. door stops I between which thedoors close and The main object of the invention is to provide to whichthe doors may be fastened by bolts or 15 novel means in the form ofremovable and interother fastening means in closed position. changeablebridge planks or gang planks which In Fig. 1 of the drawings I haveshown the are adapted to bridge across and connect concar I arranged ona track 8 for loading and untainer compartments of cars standing onadjaloading operations alongside a loading platform I cent tracks, sothat containers may be conven- 9, which platform may be constructed ofconiently shifted between such cars and so that crete, wood or any othersuitable material or containers may be transported from a car to acombination of materials. This platform, in acloading platform through acompartment of an cordance with my invention, is provided alongintervening car lying between the same and the its marginal edgeadjacent the track with a deplatform, and vice versa. pressed portion orrecess 10 providing a support- 25 A further object of the invention isto provide ing or abutment surface II and a vertical abuta novelconstruction of removable and interment shoulder l2. The recess It is ofa suitchangeable bridge plank or gang plank for this able width toreceive that portion of a door 6 purpose. which laps over upon theplatform when the With these and other objects in view, the indoor islet down and is of a depth, in the region 30 vention consists of thefeatures of construction, of the shoulder l2, at least, correspondingsubcombination and arrangement of parts, hereinstantially to thethickness of the door, so that after fully described and claimed,reference being the upper surface of the letdown door will lie had tothe accompanying drawings, in which: flush or substantially so with theupper surface 5 Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a loading of thebody of the platform. When thus disposed platform and a container cararranged alongside the door of any car compartment facing the the samein position to be loaded or unloaded, platform will provide a gang plankbridging the with some of the drop doors of the car let down gap betweenthe compartment and main surface and fitted in their receiving recess inthe platof the platform over which a lift-type truck I3 form to serve asgang planks. of usual or suitable type may travel to dispose 40 Fig. 2is a cross-sectional view through a part its lifting platform beneaththe container for the of the loading platform and two container carspurpose of lifting said container and transferring arranged alongsideone another on parallel it from the compartment to the loadingplattracks and showing the use of a removable gang form. By theprovision of this depression in i5 plank between the cars for thetransfer of conthe platform it will be seen that the drop door tainersbetween the cars. will be braced and sustained in let down position Fig.3 is a view showing a modified form of to adapt it to effectually standthe weight of the the depression in the loading platform. truck andcontainer without injury, and that, as

Figs. 4 and 5 are top and bottom perspective the door lies flush withthe upper surface of the views of the removable bridge plank or gangplatform, the wheels of the truck may pass freely 50 plank. over thejoint without subjecting the door to Referring now more particularly toFigs. 1 to injurious shocks or jars or without liability of 3,inclusive, of the drawings, l designates a coninjury to the free edge ofthe door by abutting tainer car of gondola type which is transverselycontact therewith. The bottom of abutment divided by bulkheads 2 intocontainer receiving surface I l of the recess may slope at an out- 55ward and downward angle from the shoulder l2, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2,or be stepped or otherwise constructed, as shown in Fig. 3, to providean outer recess l4 beyond the door supporting surface l5, so that adeepened recess portion may be furnished to accommodate projectinglooking or other fittings upon the face of the door.

In Figs. 2, 4 and 5 I have shown means in 'fit conveniently within thedoor openings of the container compartments of cars, and of a suitablelength to extend between and rest upon the floors of transversely alinedcompartments of two container cars arranged side by side on paralleltracks. This bridge plate may be made in the form of a trough-shaped orchannelshaped body of sheet steel, the upturned side Wallsior flanges I?of which have secured thereto angle metal stiffeners l8 formingtherewith guard rails at the sides of the plank to prevent displacementof the wheels of the truck thereover, which stiffeners may be riveted orotherwise secured to the sides l1. Also secured to the underside of thebody of this bridge plate or plank are channel-shaped stiffening membersl9, which are of less length than the length of the plank and terminateat their ends a sufficient distance from the ends of the plank to allowthe latter to lap over upon the floors of compartments of parallel carsvarying to different degrees in their distance apart. Fig. 2 shows theuse of such a bridge plank extended between transversely alinedcompartments of a car I arranged alongside a loading platform andbetween the same anda car la standing on a track adjacent to that onwhich the car I is arranged. In placing this bridge in position the dropdoors at the adjacent sides of the compartments of the cars l and id tobe connected are let down to a pendant vertical position and the bridgeplank then disposed to extend across the gap between the open sides ofthe compartments and to rest on the floor of said compartments, thebridge when thus arranged forming a passageway over which a lift-typetruck may travel between the com of the open doors to prevent the bridgeplank from shifting out of position and dropping down between the carsunder pressure of the wheels of the truck engaging the end edges of thebridge plank. By employing such a bridge plank it will be evidentthat'provision is made for the ready and convenient transfer ofcontainers between parallel cars arranged on adjacent tracks and betweensuch cars and a loading platform in a manner not possible heretoforewithout the use of hoisting apparatus, and. whereby time and labor maybe saved and greater convenience and facility aiforded in loading andunloading cars in a yard or at a station.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings,the construction, mode of operation and advantages of my invention inthe loading and unloading of cars will be readily understood by thoseversed in the art without a further and extended description. While thestructural embodiments disclosed are preferred, it will, of course, beunderstood that changes in the form, proportion and arrangement of partsmay be made within the scope of the appended claims without departingfrom the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim is:-

A bridge plank for bridging the space between cars arranged side by sidefor the transfer of lading over the intervening gap between said cars,said plank comprising a body adapted to bridge said gap and to besupported at its ends upon the floors of the cars, said body being U-shaped in cross-sectionand provided at its sides with integralupstanding flanges forming guard rails, means upon the underside of thebody for reinforcing the same and acting as abutments to prevent undueshifting of the plank laterally of the cars, and L-shaped stiffenershaving vertical webs extending along and to the guard rail flanges andhorizontal webs extending laterally therefrom outwardly from saidflanges and lying flush with the upper edges thereof.

GRAHAM C. WOODRUFF.

